What is Saffron?

The saffron plant belongs to the family of iridaceae. It is a perennial meadow grass that reaches 10 to 25 cm and grows from its bulbs. The bulb has a suboval shape, is small and thick, lightly flattened at the bottom and looks like an onion bulb. It has a massive structure, covered by multiple tunics. The bulb is an underground organ that gathers the necessary reserve substances needed for flowering and growth. The numerous roots are white with variable lengths (5 – 10 cm). The leaves, also called nomophyllus, vary in number from 10 to 15 for each shoot. They are very narrow and have a length between 1,5 and 2,5 mm.Their color is dark green with a white middle stripe in the inner side and a venation on the outside. The flowers have six petals, three on the inner side and three on the outer side joined on the long pipe that comes out of the upper part of the ovary. The form is regular and straight.The column separated from the top of the underground ovary ends in a sole stigma of three threads that have an intense red color. This is the interesting part of the plant regarding cultivation. One to three flowers are counted per bulb and two to three bulbs are counted per plant.